Posts tagged downtown

Choose another tag?

Technically, every dinner Leo and I have can be considered a ‘date night’, but I specifically requested we do a special night out one November. I was pretty bored with our usual food spots at the time and the idea of having a taco or another pork belly something felt as enticing as eating chalk at that point. Sheherzade Dizi & Grill was a welcomed change for sure! It’s such a cozy little spot, dimly lit, with lots of colourful decorations. I’m pretty sure 90% of the people dining alongside us were on dates as well… Romantic dates, bro dates, and lady dates. No family dates. Also…dates..get it? (The fruit kind. They’re popular in Iranian and Middle Eastern cuisines, no?)

It was actually our second time there. I felt adventurous and got the Kaleh Joosh, which the menu says is a broth of Persian whey, mint, and onions cooked with white beans, chickpeas, potatoes and eggplant. It comes with a side of walnuts, beets and cucumbers, and flatbread. When it arrives at the table, the vegetables are served in a clay pot and the broth strained in a soup bowl. I was told to drink the broth first, then, with a special instrument, to crush the vegetables in the pot and use it as a spread for my flatbread.

When I looked up kaleh joosh on google, it seemed like it was an entirely different thing from what I had. Sheherzade’s kaleh joosh was a vegetarian version of their popular Abgoosht, which is a lamb stew that comes with everything I’ve mentioned above. It’s served and eaten the same way.

The kebabs Leo ordered came with Persian style rice with butter on top, a salad, and a whole roasted tomato. The rice puts most of the other rice I’ve ever eaten to shame.

We’ve heralded Portuguese doughnuts before and we’ll likely do it again before this little round up is done (spoiler alert, we’re fans). With that said, it was pretty surprising that we left the venerable Venezia Bakery unmentioned for so long. On most days the cafe is a one-woman operation serving up breads, pastries, hot sandwiches and even a few grocery essentials to local patrons. To some, Venezia must seem like a defiant holdover on what is fast becoming restaurant-mile on Ossington. To label it an anachronism, however, would be to betray the timeless appeal of their baked goods – the kind that would make Venezia feel right at home in any neighbourhood. Next time you’re in their’s before sundown, we recommend you have yourself one of their giant doughnuts with your morning or afternoon coffee. You’ll probably be tempted to stock up on some of their classic pastéis be nata for later too.

Here are some film photos from a Sunday walk in Roncesvalles, taken all the way back in April! It was after my brunch with Amy at Keriwa. We dropped by a few vintage stores, Sweetpea’s (florist), and then Roncy’s Bean for gelato. Amy has a post on all the chocolate she got from The Mercantile, a quaint little grocer along the strip that sells some hard to find stuff like Kushmi Tea brand from Paris…and Jamie Oliver foodstuff.

Hello

I'm Patricia and I live in Toronto. Despite being a picky eater, I love food. Sometimes I try to make things and they turn out okay. Unless otherwise noted, the photos on here are either mine or Leo's. The drawings you see are by him.

You can contact us at bhhblog [at] gmail [dot] com, but I respond faster via twitter [@notpeppermint].

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.